State and Government in Ancient India c23.s2.t1: Monarchy
State and Government in Ancient India c23.s2.t1
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Monarchy
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Hereditary monarchy was the prevailing type of government during this period. The title Mahārājādhirāja adapted from the Kushāṇa title Rājātirāja, became well established during this period in the case of mighty rulers of northern India. Early Gupta kings like Gupta and Ghaṭotkcha were designated simply as Mahārājas; from the time of Chandragupta I the higher title of Mahārājadhirāja began to be claimed. Early rulers in the Maukhari dynasty use the simple title Mahārāja; from the time of Iśānavarman, however, they adopt the grander epithet Mahārājādhirāja. In south India this title did not become very common; it is on rare occasions that the Pallava kings use the title Mahārājādhirāja or its variant *Dharmamahārājādhirāja.*
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The doctrine of the divinity of the king became more popular in this period. Samudragupta is described as God come to live upon this earth,¹ and the Kadmaba and Sālaṅkyāyana rulers as fifth Lokapālas or divine protectors.² No king, however, could claim either infallibility or autocratic powers on account of their divinity. Smṛitis and inscriptions of this period emphasise that a king can become a successful ruler only if he waits upon the elders, studies the art of government and cultivates righteousness. Haughty, irreligious and tyrannical kings are held to public opprobrium in the records of our period.³ Gupta inscriptions are silent about the nature of the training given to the prince, but the Kadamba inscriptions tell us how an ideal king was expected to have his body well built by various military exercises including riding horses and elephants, and his intellect sharpened and view-point liberalised by the study of different science.⁴ The eldest son, trained on the above lines, was usually selected as Yuvarāja; on rare occasions the choice fell upon a younger son. Junior princes were usually appointed governors; thus Govindagupta, probably a younger brother of Kumāragupta I, was his governor in Mālwā. It was only on rare occasions that the kingdom was divided to accommodate the conflicting claims of contending princes. This probably happened in the case of the Gupta empire during the latter half of the 5th century and in the case of the Vākāṭaka kingdom after the death of emperor Pravarasena I *c.* 325 A. D. In both cases the consequences were far from beneficial.
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¹ लोकधाम्नो देवस्य, Allahabad *praśasti*, *C. I. I.* III. 8
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² *I. A.*, V. 15; *E. I.*, VIII. 234
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³ आविर्भूतावलेपैरविनयपटुभिर्लङ्घिताचारमार्गे मोहाद्दैंदंयुगीनै रपशुभमतिभिः पीड्यमाना नरेन्द्रैः । *C. I. I.*, III. 146
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⁴ अनेकशास्त्रार्थतत्वविज्ञानविवेचनविनिविष्टविशालोदरमतिः हस्त्यश्वारोहणप्रहरणादिषु व्यायामकीषु भूमिषु यथावत्कृतश्रमः । *I. A.*, VII. 37
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In the Gupta administration, the Yuvarāja had his separate establishment, both civil and military. We may presume that he could issue orders to the heads of the provincial governments with the consent of the emperor. If the king was old, a good deal of the administrative work would fall upon the heir-apparent, as was the case towards the end of the reign of Kumāragupta I.
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Queens and princesses do not seem to have taken any active part in the administration. Kumāradevī was probably a regnant queen, but does not seem to have taken any active part in the administration of her husband Chandragupta I. The same seems to have been the case with Dhruvadevī, the famous crowned queen of Chandragupta II. Dowager queens however were often assuming the reins of administration during the minority of their sons; the instance of Prabhāvatīguptā, the daughter of Chandragupta II and queen of the Vākāṭaka king Rudrasena II, is a well known one in our period.